MBA 2020 Battery: Concerning?

[The_Battary_guy]

It's almost 4 months into my mba and Coconut battery indicates battery capacity at 91%, Is that normal.


But system information says it's at 100% wtf is goin on?

 

[CheesePuff]

Do you have optimize battery charging enabled in system preferences? If so, that is why.

edit: sorry, its called Battery health management in macOS, under system preferences > energy saver > battery health button at the bottom

 

[The_Battary_guy]

Do you have optimize battery charging enabled in system preferences? If so, that is why.

edit: sorry, its called Battery health management in macOS, under system preferences > energy saver > battery health button at the bottom

Yes I've enabled it.

 

[throAU]

Mine just hit 88%, which is somewhat alarming for a machine that is literally 6 months old.

Sure, battery health management, blah blah.... I'm not sure I buy it.

 

[ascender]

So long as you're still getting the expected use-time out of the battery per charge I wouldn't worry about it. If it starts to drop off, then I'd be worried.

There is such a thing as too much information these days.

 

[throAU]

So long as you're still getting the expected use-time out of the battery per charge I wouldn't worry about it. If it starts to drop off, then I'd be worried.

There is such a thing as too much information these days.

Well, i'm not really given that i've got 11-12 percent less battery capacity than when it was new...

It was fine for a couple of months, but in the past few weeks its dropped by about 4-5 percent.

I've just hit charge 60 cycles on it, battery manufacture date: 9th Jan 2020.

 

[theSeb]

Threads like this make me wish I had kept coconutBattery installed so that I could see my history. I do not bother with following all the care guidelines that have been posted on these forums for many years. Sometimes my MacBooks live on the charger for months. Sometimes they get left behind in a cupboard for months or even a year.

This is the current battery state for my 2012 MBP

I am trying to remember what happened to the battery health in the first years for all of the MacBooks I had. I am pretty sure that initially they dropped to around 90% quite quickly, but I am not entirely sure how quickly. In my view the numbers mentioned above are somewhat concerning, considering the age of the machines. I reckon wait till around they are 10 months old and check then and if they are lower than 90%, then I would definitely be on the call to Apple support.

 

[Jack Neill]

Im disappointed in mine too. I don't really notice any difference in battery life tho. Losing 5% after just 22 cycles?

 

[theSeb]

Like I said above... all my Macs have dropped to around 90% fairly quickly and then stayed there for ages. Also you will notice that the battery health goes up and down by a few percent if you start tracking it. Nothing to worry about.

 

[throAU]

All my Macs have been >95% for the first couple of years prior to this. I'm now on 88% with 62 charges.

Same sort of usage patterns...

 

[throAU]

Scratch that...

So... according to this:

MacBook Battery Health Management: How To Disable New macOS Catalina Feature

Apple introduced a new feature for MacBooks called Battery Health Management with macOS 10.15.5. Here's how to turn it off for those who don't want to use it.

www.ibtimes.com

It may charge only to 80 percent if it thinks you're on AC power too much. SO maybe my battery health will drop to 80 percent, pretty quick? Hmm...

 

[theSeb]

That does look abnormal. In comparison this is my 5 year old Macbook (not Air) at 84.5%

Apple's battery health management is supposed to stop the aging and not make it drop to 80 percent quicker.

 

[throAU]

I guess what I am wanting to know is this:
does the health management work via telling the OS the max battery capacity is less than it really is so it doesn't charge as much, and then THIS in turn leads to erroneous battery health readings?

If that's what it is doing... fine.

If that's not exactly how it works.... this battery in the 2020 machine is total trash.


And yah. my 2011 machine (and my 2015) still has better battery health.

 

[theSeb]

Oh, I see what you mean. No, I don't believe it does, but you could check it yourself. Get coconutBattery (it's free) or go into about this mac and then system report. In the power section you will see your total capacity in mAh. Take note of that number and then switch off battery health management. Probably best to restart. Then go back to check the total capacity again. I suspect that it does not modify this number and instead it does indeed only charge around 80% quickly, then slowly or not at all, depending on what it learns about your use. For example my iPhone now knows that it must finish charging by 6:30 AM every day.

This is mentioned here

 

[throAU]

Yeah, I've read the docs, but apple haven't been forthcoming about what it does to that number. I might try turning it off for a while and reboot, etc.

I did turn it off, noticed no change, but I can't remember if I rebooted.

In the middle of a backup at the moment, but will give it ago.

No need for coconut battery, iStat does it, as does the system report, its a simple case of current max capacity vs. design capacity figures.

I'm thinking/hoping it may be trending towards giving me 80% max capacity based on usage. If that IS what it is doing... fine I guess. But they don't document this in any real sane manner.

 

[theSeb]

They way you describe you think it may work does kind of sound like a "magical" thing Apple might just do, but I have my doubts.

 

[throAU]

They way you describe you think it may work does kind of sound like a "magical" thing Apple might just do, but I have my doubts.

So do i.... but it does sound like the sort of... *waves hand* "it's magical it just works" crap they'd pull.

The only hint is in the docs where they say it may result in your Mac showing battery service required "early".

 

[thadoggfather]

89% , 89 charges had this machine since the spring also

definitely a bit concerning

 

[ghanwani]

Looks a bit weird, but can’t suggest anything. If it drops below 80%, that’s when Apple may replace it.

My 2019 MBA is showing 86% at 526 cycles and 14 months.

 

[Need_Advice]

Guys, just think about what Battery Health Management does or read what the text in this menu says:

The battery is being cared of by not charging to its maximum. Sure, it charges to 100%, but 100% in this case means less per cent of your max capacity. In the long term this is more gentle for the batteries.

Btw mine is at 91,5% after 120 cycles. Before the update in July it was at 96-98%. I'm pretty sure the strong drop is caused by Health Management of the July update. Watch your History in CoconutBattery and you'll see a strong drop from one to the other day. The day you updated your device.

 

[thadoggfather]

I'm at 88% with 100 charges.

Have warranty until end of April. Almost certainly going to push for a battery replacement before then

This doesn't seem right. Hopefully as it approaches the sub-80% with under 1000 charges which it certainly seems on the trajectory for

 

[ghanwani]

I'm at 88% with 100 charges.

Have warranty until end of April. Almost certainly going to push for a battery replacement before then

This doesn't seem right. Hopefully as it approaches the sub-80% with under 1000 charges which it certainly seems on the trajectory for

It can remain steady for long periods, e.g. mine is showing 85%-88% between 258 and 537 cycles!

I am planning to get the new MBA as soon as I get some time off work. Battery life on this one now gets me about 5-6 hours, less if on conf calls.